


Martian Adventure

by JKlog



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, First Kiss, Future Fic, M/M, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 10:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14616915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKlog/pseuds/JKlog
Summary: Jim and Blair go to the colony in Mars.Chapter 1 - prompt: MemoriesChapter 2 - prompt: Mind controlChapter 3 - prompt: Mind gamesChapter 4 - prompt: DestinyChapter 5 - prompt: After midnight





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I took de idea of a Sentinel/Guide Institute from the series “Irreconcilable Differences” by magician, that is also published in the Sentinel Bingo. The idea of the LBS (lost bond syndrome) is from neichan’s “To choose a guide”. The mention of a vehicle called “speeder” is inspired in “Star Wars” (the movies). An aerial vehicle called “flyer” is from “Taming of the Guide” by elaine.
> 
> Besides, I must add that the first chapter takes place on Earth.
> 
> With this story I finally complete a full card on the Sentinel Bingo. I am so happy!
> 
> I have to thank Bluewolf for the beta and her wonderful ideas, that made this story so much better.

I have very clear memories of when I met Jim Ellison. Two years before, a new world government had been elected. Many changes had been made with respect to the Sentinels and the Guides. Its existence had been recognized many years previously, but there were no global policies with respect to them until that moment. The new government had created the Sentinels /Guides Institute. Here in Cascade, Dr. Eli Stoddard had been appointed to preside over it. I, Dr. Blair Sandburg, was his assistant.

We worked with many Sentinels and Guides. That meant many tests. The laboratories of the Institute had, as time passed, much more sophisticated instruments. With them we could determine the limits of a Sentinel’s senses, as well as a Guide’s empathy. Many Sentinel-Guide pairings were trained, with great success. I knew I was a Guide, but I didn’t find my Sentinel in all the candidates I met. Maybe I was destined never to find him, I thought. Maybe my mission was to help the Sentinels and Guides in general. That's what Eli told me.

So, I met James Ellison. He was a former Army Ranger, at that time working as a detective in the Major Crimes Unit of the Cascade police. He came to the Institute desperate to achieve control of his senses. He needed a Guide urgently. He’d had several attempts to bond with several Guides, but none had worked. There was no compatibility. I had made an appointment with him in my office. When I saw him, I realized that his situation was difficult. He looked disastrous. His clothes were wrinkled and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in several days.

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/POhwDOs)

 

I greeted him with a smile and he answered with a very weak one, as if it was hard for him to smile. But as we got into conversation, I noticed that his mood improved. At one point, I asked him how he expected his Guide to be.

"I hope it's like you," he said. And he smiled. At that moment, I felt that my empathic sense was expanding. I felt a great tenderness for that Sentinel, a desire to help him and protect him at any cost. If I wasn’t careful it was going to start forming a bond between him and me.

I shook my head and tried to retract my empathy. I couldn’t be a Sentinel's Guide. My work at the Institute was too important. He asked me if I wanted to be his Guide. I told him, in the most polite way I could, that I couldn’t be a Guide for any Sentinel, that I was dedicated full time to work in the Institute.

His face reflected how disappointed he felt. For a moment, I felt the same. But there was nothing to do, it was impossible. I accompanied him to the laboratory, where I told the technicians to do the preliminary tests. I left him there and retreated, feeling a greater sense of emptiness as I walked away. I wondered if it was possible that I had found a Sentinel compatible with me. The best thing was that I never knew. I couldn’t afford that.

The next day, I received the results of the tests they had done on Ellison. They were amazing. His senses were the most intense we had seen, until that moment. And he didn’t have a Guide. How far could he go when he had one?

 

\-------------------------------------------------- -------

 

A week passed since I saw Jim Ellison. I received the results of the final exams they did, and they only confirmed what I already knew, that his senses were extraordinary. Above all, his ears. He could hear sounds that even the most trained dog couldn’t hear. The Cascade police were lucky to have him among their own.

I realized that, although it was urgent, I had not put myself to the task of finding a guide for Ellison. I think that, deep down, I wanted to be that guide. But it could not be, so I started to review the list of candidates.

At that moment, I received an urgent call from Captain Simon Banks. Ellison had zoned out. In the middle of a shooting. I couldn’t believe that they let him act in the field without a guide. I told Banks. He told me that Ellison was his best man, that he couldn’t leave him tied to his desk. I asked if he preferred that Ellison be tied to a wheelchair, or worse, a coffin. Banks didn’t answer me.

I asked where he was, to be able to get Ellison out of the zone out. It was on the docks. I told him I would be there in ten minutes.

When I arrived, they had Ellison sitting in the back of an ambulance. A paramedic was hitting him gently on the face, trying to wake him up. But there was no reaction. I went over and introduced myself to Captain Banks. He wasn’t very happy with me, due to our previous conversation.

I approached Ellison. I took his right hand with my left and put my right hand on his cheek.

"Come on, Ellison. Come back. Listen to my voice, let me guide you." I kept talking to him a couple of minutes more.

Finally, he opened his eyes. We looked at each other. I realized how beautiful his eyes were. Then, I saw Ellison begin to sniff. Surely, recognizing my smell. He started to move his head, rubbing his cheek against my hand. I felt again what I had felt in my office, that feeling of wanting to guide and protect this Sentinel, even at the cost of my own life.

But this time I didn’t retreat. I let that warm feeling wrap around me, like a blanket on a cold day. The most beautiful smile formed on the Sentinel's lips. I answered with a more or less equal.

Suddenly, Ellison turned his head and licked my hand. It was the missing sense, taste. Now he had all the data to recognize me. I pulled away, realizing I was letting it go too far. I couldn’t connect with Ellison, no matter how much I wanted it. Even though I already knew he was fine, I asked him anyway.

"Better than ever, Chief," he told me. I remember it clearly, because it was the first time he called me 'Chief'.

At that moment, the paramedics took charge and surrounded him to take his vitals. I kept talking to Banks, telling him that Ellison should get a guide as soon as possible. He told me that they had been trying for years, without luck. I headed towards my speeder, a classic but quite reliable model. I felt that part of me stayed in that place.

 

\-------------------------------------------------- --------------------

 

Another week passed, and I had to go to Seattle to attend a conference on Sentinels and Guides, organized by the local SGI. I planned to present Ellison's sensory data as scientific information. I wanted to know if there were other sentinels in that city who had such acute senses, although I had already collated the data worldwide.

There were very few sentinels who reached the limits Ellison did. But I was curious if in Seattle, or another city, some sentinel like that had appeared, who wasn’t in the database because it was very recent. I was sitting in the amphitheater, listening to Dr. Hughes talk about the job successes of his Sentinels and Guides, when I started to feel bad. My vision got cloudy and I had the feeling that my blood pressure was dropping.

The next thing I remember is being on a stretcher in an ambulance. They informed me that I had fainted and that I was on my way to the hospital. When we arrived, they took my vital signs and everything was normal. So they let me go, recommending that I eat well and drink a lot of liquid.

The next day, I returned to Cascade. Back to the SGI, a note from my secretary was waiting for me, saying that I should call Captain Banks urgently. I figured that Ellison had zoned out again. I called him and I found myself with a totally different picture.

Jim Ellison was in Cascade General, with LBS, lost bond syndrome. Then I realized what was happening. Without noticing, I had bonded with Ellison. How could I not notice before? I was also suffering from LBS. What I had to do now was break the bond once and for all.

Although, really, I had no idea how to do it. Even though I had been studying Sentinels and Guides for two years, there were areas, like the bond, that I knew little about. In general, there were few studies dedicated to the bond. It was simply known that there had to be some compatibility between the two participants. Sometimes it was sexual and sometimes not. As for the LBS, it was known that distance was a negative factor for both Sentinels and Guides. Also, for example, it was what happened when one of the two died. Generally, the one remaining followed the other soon after. But it wasn’t known what happened when one of the two rejected the other. I wondered what would happen to Ellison if I got away from him to break the bond. I imagined that nothing good. There was only one way to find out. I would stay away from him, and see what happened.

 

\-----------------------------------------

 

Captain Banks' hologram had a more than worried expression when he called me to tell me that Ellison was getting worse and worse. It had been two weeks since we had last spoken. Then, I had told him that I wanted to break the bond. Banks had accepted it, reluctantly. I wasn’t very well, though not as bad as Ellison. I had no appetite. I started losing weight drastically. I suffered from constant headaches, something that had never happened to me before. But the Sentinel had taken the worst part.

I soon learned that he was dying. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to go and see him. When I entered the cubicle in the Cascade General ICU, and saw what was left of Jim Ellison, I had a huge feeling of guilt. It was my fault. Although I had not consciously sought to connect with Ellison, I had kept away from him. I had to fix this.

I took his right hand and placed it on my chest, right above my heart. Then I went to his ear and spoke softly. I thought that would be enough. After five minutes, I saw that Ellison's nose was beginning to act. I moved closer so he could smell me. His eyes opened. He tilted his head slightly to the side so he could see me.

"Chief?"

"Yes, Ellison, it's me."

His grin wasn’t as bright as the one I had seen the last time I saw him, but it still came to my heart. I grinned too. I realized he was trying to talk, and instead he coughed.

"Okay, we don’t have to talk now. You have to recover. I promise that I won’t leave you alone again. I’ll be your guide."

This seemed to calm Ellison, who closed his eyes again. I left his hand on the bed, but he hastened to take mine and squeeze it, though weakly. I figured he wanted me to stay by his side, so I sat in the chair next to the bed. I had to talk to Banks, and Stoddard, but that could wait.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

I stayed until night. The treating doctor told me that I could stay, if I wanted, but I preferred to leave and return the next day. I was feeling much better and my appetite had returned. When I arrived at my apartment, I made macaroni and cheese. I ate two servings. Satisfied, I took a shower and went to bed.

The next day, I went to the SGI ready to talk to Eli Stoddard. He received me with his natural affability. I told him about my new situation, and how much I regretted having to leave the Institute, but now I would be a Sentinel's Guide and I had to work with him.

"I understand, Blair. But wouldn’t it be possible for you to work part-time here? It would really be a great loss for us if you walked away completely."

"I don’t know, Eli. I’d have to check with Ellison. For now, he’s in very bad health, so that will have to wait. But I'm going to talk to Captain Banks about it."

I told him I had to go to the hospital, Ellison needed my proximity to heal. He told me that there was no problem, that I should take all the time I needed. So I went to the hospital. There I met Captain Banks. I told him that I had decided to be Jim's Guide. That seemed to please him very much.

He told me that Ellison had told him that he wanted me as a Guide, so surely he was going to accept me. I told him that it didn’t matter, because we were already bonded. Forever. We went inside Jim's room. I sat on the side of his bed and Banks stood on the other side.

 

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/gn2Zw5n)

 

 

"Do you plan to work in Major Crimes, Sandburg?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, Banks."

"Are you going to the Academy before that?"

"WHAT?"

"If you’re going to work as a detective's partner, you have to learn police procedure and also how to handle a weapon."

"I thought that they would give me a consultant position, or something like that."

"Consultant? Mmmm ... It could be ... What did you say was your specialty? "

"I’m an anthropologist, specialized in sentinels and guides."

"I don’t know if that could be useful in Major Crimes."

"I think I can be of help. I am a great observer of human behavior, that has to be useful."

"Okay, Sandburg. I think I can’t stop you from working with Ellison. By the law of Sentinels and Guides, you have to work with him. We'll see what Jim says about all this. Are you sure he's going to recover? "

"I'm sure. There is no reason for him to suffer from LBS. The bond is active again."

"Well, now I think you should stay in here with him. He needs you."

"Yes, thanks for your support, Banks."

"You're welcome, Sandburg."

And I sat in the chair next to Jim's bed. He was still sleeping. I took his hand and interlocked my fingers with his. I hoped that that would not bother him when he woke up.

 

\--------------------------------------------

 

In fact, it didn’t bother him. He was very pleased, even. That's how we stayed most of the time I was with him in the hospital. That was only four more days. His recovery was amazing.

During that time we made plans to work together. Jim told me he had a spare room, that if I wanted to, I could live with him. I told him I would think about it. But, in reality, it didn’t seem necessary to me. We didn’t need so much proximity.

When he left the hospital, I took him to his apartment. I first met the loft. It had a very Spartan decoration, which means, almost non-existent. It revealed a lot about Ellison's personality.

He immediately went to clean up. Since I had nothing to do, I helped him. When we finished shaking off the accumulated dust, Jim invited me to lunch. We ordered Chinese food.

I really had to admit that I enjoyed his company very much. It seemed that he liked to hear me talk. But living together would be too much. I thought we were very different, we would surely end up hating each other.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

A few days later, we were working in Major Crimes. I realized that until that moment I had been in a merry-go-round, and now I was on a roller coaster. On my first day of work, the station was taken over by a group of rebels called 'Sunrise Patriots'. They ended up taking me hostage in a flyer while Jim hung from it, with the leader of the rebels, also hanging, clinging to his leg. Long story. The important thing is that everything ended well and the rebels were caught. But I will never forget that day.

And so we continued, case after case. The roller coaster didn’t stop. But with Jim's senses, his rate of resolved cases went up exponentially. As I said, his senses were extraordinary. And by learning to control them, with my humble help, they were even more so. Soon we made ourselves national celebrities. We were invited to several conferences in various cities to share our experiences. Of course it was me who spoke there, because Jim hated to speak in public.

\------------------------------------------

 

The terraforming of Mars had begun a century previously. In the last twenty years, a colony had been established. Many people had migrated there. And just as there were people who only looked for work and a certain well-being, there were also others who were willing to get rich no matter what harm they did. That's why they needed the police.

The Martian authorities needed Sentinel / Guide pairs to strengthen the forces of order. It was because of this that Jim and I got an invitation to go to Mars. Simon didn’t say anything, but it was obvious that he was against the idea. We were his best team, after all.

Jim wasn’t totally opposed to the idea, but he had some resistance to changes. Personally, it seemed to me that going to Mars would be an adventure. I had always liked to travel, to know new cultures. With Naomi, my mother, I had never been in the same place for a long time when I was growing up. Although I would have liked to have a place to call home, I didn’t complain about the possibility of meeting new people, new places. That's why I had decided that I would dedicate myself to Anthropology.

So I tried to convince Jim that a change of environment would be positive. I added the fact that the salary would be much better. Also, I let him know that it didn’t have to be definitive, we could go back to Earth after having made enough money and gained new experiences. On the other hand, it would be good to know how his senses would behave on a planet with less force of gravity.

I gave him a week to think about it. When that week finished, he invited me to dinner at the loft, as he usually did. When we finished eating dessert, we had coffee sitting on the couch. Then he told me that he had decided to go to Mars, but that he wouldn’t sell the loft. He wanted to come back, although we didn’t know how long we would stay there. It would depend on how well we acclimatized.

The hard part would be to break the news to Simon. Surely he wasn’t going to be happy. But to my surprise, he took it quite well. I think he already expected it.

Our coworkers and friends in Major Crimes gave us a farewell party in a reception hall. There was food, drinks and music. While I was dancing with several ladies, Jim was watching me taciturnly. I didn’t understand what was wrong. I asked a girl to invite him to dance. At that time, they played slow music. I watched as Jim took the girl by the hand and put his other arm around her waist. They danced very close to each other. I didn’t like that at all.

 

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/UGPWno4)

 

 

But what was I feeling? I couldn’t understand it, but I wanted to go, take that woman away from Jim and take her place. I soon realized that it was jealousy. I was jealous of Jim! How was it that I had never realized I had those feelings for him? Where did they come from?

But I couldn’t tell him anything. Jim was heterosexual. And, really, me too. We had talked about it once, discussing the characteristic of the bond between some sentinels and guides, how it could be sexual in some cases. We had agreed that it wasn’t our case. Would it really be like that?

 


	2. Mind control

Then, they were on their way to Mars. Blair couldn’t believe that in a few days he was going to be stepping onto another planet. It was a long trip, but it wasn’t going to be so bad. The ship had artificial gravity and atmosphere. Besides, they were not alone. Two other pairs of sentinels and guides also went, in addition to the crew of the ship.

When they were a few hours away from landing on Mars, Jim and Blair were admiring the view of the red planet and talking about their future.

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/LPRy5Cp)

 

"Chief, I think we should rent a two-bedroom apartment once we settle down. We could save a lot of money that way."

"Yes, I agree. From what I have been able to discuss with some of our colleagues, they will do the same," said Blair.

"Some of them are married, that makes things a lot easier," Jim said. Blair blushed. He expected Jim to take on the color of his face by a reflection of the surface of Mars, but he doubted it. He thought how easy it would be if he and Jim were married. He wouldn’t have to hide what he felt for him to begin with. He could live with him when they returned to Earth. They could rent a one-bedroom apartment.

Just then, the intercom announced that in half an hour they would land. They headed towards the passengers’ cabin. The others were also settling into their seats. They put on their seat belts and waited.

The landing was very smooth and without problems. They almost didn’t notice. They would have to get used to the fact that gravity was 62% less than on Earth.

The colony on Mars was called Vanguard. They went there on a bus, along with the other sentinels and guides. They were taken to the VPD building, where the Mayor received them with a warm greeting, thanking them for accepting the invitation to work there and wishing them an early acclimatization. Then they were taken to a hotel to rest. The next day they started working.

 

\---------------------------------------------

 

Blair and Jim were assigned to the Major Crimes Unit of the VPD. Carlos Hernández and Pedro Maldonado went to the Homicide unit. Stephen and Linda Hawking went to Burglary.

Blair had told Stephen Hawking if he knew his name was the same as a great physicist of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Hawking had told him he had no idea.

They got a two-bedroom apartment for a reasonable monthly amount. It was quite close to the station, but they still needed a vehicle. With what they had obtained from the sale of their speeders on Earth, they got a vehicle that was a bit different from the ones they had been used to, due to the lower gravity.

The first case they had was the kidnapping of two children, which had a great impact on the media. The parents were desperate. Forty-eight hours went by before the kidnappers got in touch with them.

Listening to the recording of the conversation with the criminals, Jim could hear the noise of many people screaming, like in a sports stadium during a game. Of course, for normal ears it was inaudible. There was only one stadium in Vanguard, for football, which was played with a ball much heavier than Earth. So the hiding place of the kidnappers was near there.

Using the residual smell on the children's clothes, Jim was able to track them down and find the captors. The resolution of this case was widely disseminated by the media. A photo of Blair and Jim came out on the front page in the digital newspapers.

Nobody imagined that all this publicity of their abilities was going to give a certain scientist the idea of kidnapping the famous Sentinel and Guide.

 

......................................................

 

Dimitri Sinstov was a Russian scientist who had emigrated to Mars ten years previously. He had a brilliant mind. He had achieved several doctorates in several sciences and was also a computer engineer. He had rejected the possibility of presiding over the Martian Institute of Sciences, to devote himself to obscure research projects that only he understood.

Among them, the mind control project. This was a project to which he had dedicated himself, no one else had access to it. And he had serious reasons for that.

Sinstov had a goal. And he didn’t care about the damage he could do to get to it. Now his mind control helmet was ready, and he knew exactly who he was going to use it with.

But first he had to do a test, and not with lab rats, but with humans.

He hired two muscular men, whom he would need to carry out his plan. Also, they were going to serve him to test his helmet. He could only control up to two minds at a time.

He lured them in the laboratory and hiding place that he had on the outskirts of the city, and he offered them money to submit to the test. Predictably, the men accepted.

When they arrived at the laboratory, Sinstov stood in front of them with the helmet on his head. He activated it and noticed that the men remained motionless and with a dazed expression. That pleased him very much. He smiled evilly.

"Now you're going to sit down, one on each side of that table."

The men sat down. On the table were two weapons.

"You will each take a weapon."

Sinstov noted with pleasure that the men obeyed his orders.

"Now point it at the man in front of you."

They did so, without hesitation.

"Shoot!"

Both men pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the weapons were unloaded. Sinstov laughed triumphantly. He deactivated the helmet and saw how each man looked with surprise at his hand holding a gun aimed at the other.

"Do you remember anything that just happened?" asked the scientist.

"No, sir," said both goons in unison.

"Perfect." Sinstov took off his helmet.

"Now we have to plan how to bring Ellison and Sandburg here."

 

............................................................ ..

 

Blair and Jim were in the apartment about to dine. They had been given two days off as a reward for resolving the kidnapping case. If they were in Cascade, they would have gone camping, but being in a totally new environment, they didn’t really know what to do. So they decided to go the next day on a reconnaissance tour of Vanguard, which was not really very extensive. That way they would know better the city they were now protecting.

Jim was setting the table and Blair was finishing cooking, when they heard someone was knocking on the door. They looked at each other in amazement. Who could be at that time?

"Who is it?" Jim asked.

"Vanguard PD. Package for Sentinel Ellison and Guide Sandburg."

"At this time?"

"It's a gift of welcome and gratitude." Jim smiled. He opened the door and received a box from the man standing there. Almost immediately another man appeared from the side and stuck a hypodermic in his neck. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

Blair threw the pot that he was taking to the dining room and took a knife from the table. But between the two men they managed to dominate him and inject him in the neck as well.

 

...............................................................

 

Jim woke up first. He was tied to a chair. Blair was at his side in the same situation. He moved a little, to test the strength of the bonds. They were very well made.

He spoke to Blair, trying to wake him up, but it was useless. His partner had his head hanging to his chest. He decided to dedicate the time before his captors appeared, to observing his surroundings. It was almost dark, but Jim could see well enough. It was a room of approximately 160 square feet. In front of them, against the white wall, there was a table that had black clothes on it and two backpacks, also black. Next to it, there was a chair. The only door was to the left and was closed. Above the door, on that same wall, there were windows that reached up to the ceiling and let in a little light, but didn’t seem to look outside. The light that entered was artificial.

At that moment, Blair began to wake up. He raised his head slowly. Jim could see how his eyes gradually opened. Finally, he opened them up how big they were.

"Jim! They kidnapped us!"

"Don’t tell me, Chief. How did you realize?"

"This is no time for jokes," Blair said with a grimace. "Who can it be?"

"I have no idea. We really haven’t been on this planet long enough to make many enemies," Jim replied.

"It’s true. The children’s kidnappers were all imprisoned. Unless it's someone related to them, I think we're dealing with someone new. And another thing, Jim, remember that they gave us two days off. We aren’t going to be missed."

"Someone is coming, I hear steps, at least three people," Jim said.

Two minutes later, the door opened and someone turned on the light. It was a gray-haired man with short hair and beard, and big brown eyes. He was accompanied by two muscular men, whom Blair recognized as those who had kidnapped them. Jim hadn’t been able to see them much.

The bearded man, who seemed to be the boss, entered the room. The other two stayed at the door.

"I see you woke up, gentlemen. I know you were brought in when you were getting ready for dinner. Are you hungry?"

"Who are you?" Jim asked.

"That doesn’t matter." The man smiled sardonically. "Actually, I could tell you. You won’t remember any of this when I finish with you."

"So, why are we here?" Blair asked.

"Okay, I'll tell you that." He took the chair that was next to the table and sat on it, facing his prisoners.

"My name is Dr. Dimitri Sinstov and you are going to steal something that I need to carry out my plans to dominate the planet. In the last twenty years it has been discovered that Mars has an immense mineral wealth, currently unexploited. I intend to exploit that wealth, since the government of the Earth doesn’t do anything about it. Mars will be an immensely rich planet and soon we will be able to dominate the mother planet as well. It will only be a matter of time."

Blair and Jim looked at each other and both concluded, in silence, that this man must no doubt be crazy.

"You, Ellison," and Sinstov looked directly at him, "are a Sentinel. With the help of your senses you can deactivate any security system that interferes with my goal. I know that for that you need the help of your Guide. So both will go on the mission."

"Sinstov, you are crazy. We're not going to do any of that," Blair said. The sardonic smile returned.

"Oh, yes, you will! I have the means to make sure you do everything I say." He got up from his chair and headed for the door. He turned to say, "I'll show you."

And they left, leaving perplexed Sentinel and Guide wondering what Sinstov would have meant by that.

A few moments later, the goons brought two trays with food. One untied them, while the other pointed his gun at Blair's head. He knew that the Sentinel wouldn’t try anything that way. They ate and then they let them use the bathroom, always threatening them with a gun.

Finally, they tied them up again and left them alone, talking to each other and wondering what intentions Sinstov would have with them.

 

................................................ ..

 

Several hours later, Sinstov reappeared with his two assistants, and with a strange helmet on his head. It had many cables in it.

"What is that?" Blair asked.

"You don’t need to know," Sinstov said. He sat back in the chair in front of them. He pressed a button on the helmet and some lights came on. He watched with pleasure as the expressions on the faces of his prisoners became dazed.

"Now my men are going to untie you, but you are going to sit still in your chairs," Sinstov said.

They untied them and both remained motionless.

"Now you are going to get up and you are going to take off your clothes. Then you are going to put on those clothes that are on the table." Blair and Jim obeyed.

They took off their clothes and dressed in black clothes, including the hoods that covered their entire faces, except for their eyes. One of the goons gave them some microphones, headphones and cameras to adjust to their heads.

"Put those on," Sinstov said. The prisoners raised their hoods and put on their headphones and microphones. Then, above the hoods, the cameras adjusted to their foreheads.

"With that we'll keep in touch." Another of the goons handed him a suitcase. Sinstov opened it. Inside was a weapon that Jim didn’t know.

"This is a laser beam that can cut the hardest material known. You’ll use it to reach our goal."

He took it out of the suitcase and put it in one of the backpacks that were on the table. He gave it to Jim and gave the other backpack to Blair, saying,

"In this backpack you are going to put the nerve gas canisters you are going to steal." At that moment, he thought he saw in Blair a look of terror, but that it couldn’t be. Was it possible that Sandburg's mind was resistant to the control? He decided to take a test. He went to find one of the weapons he had in another room. When he returned, he handed it to Blair.

"Now you're going to shoot Ellison with this weapon."

For a few moments, Blair stood there, pointing the gun at Jim. It seemed that he wasn’t going to obey. Finally, he fired.

A faint bolt came from the weapon, but it did not reach the Sentinel. Blair continued to point with it, waiting for the next command.

"Give me the gun, Sandburg." Blair handed the gun to Sinstov. He was calmer. Sandburg was controlled.

The next thing he had to do was very important. "When all this is over, you won’t remember anything, from the moment you felt a knock on the door of your apartment."

Then he instructed Sentinel and Guide to follow him. He led them down a long corridor to a door that led out. There were no other houses for miles around. It was night.

In front of the house was a black vehicle. Sinstov ordered his prisoners to enter the vehicle and wait for more directives through the headphones.

He went to one of the rooms that had computers. He entered his password in one of them and was able to see what Jim and Blair saw through the cameras. He ordered them to start the vehicle and then told them where to go.

When they reached their destination, they saw gray installations with high walls. They were also on the outskirts of the city. Sinstov told them to take ropes with hooks from the trunk of the vehicle to climb the wall. It was easy for Jim to climb, but not so much for Blair. He found it harder than Jim, but still easier than he had expected, because he weighed half as much as on Earth.

When they were on the other side, Sinstov told them to use the laser to open a door that was on the back side of the building. They went there, and Jim used the beam. He easily opened a hole large enough to pass through it. Inside it was very dark, Blair saw nothing, and had to take hold of Jim's belt to follow him.

Sinstov directed them to the door of a laboratory. There was an alarm device with numbers next to the door. He told them to dial any number and sound the alarm. Blair did it. The alarm sounded. Jim dialed down his hearing to not feel pain. Sinstov told them to hide behind some cupboards. The lights came on. Jim had to adjust his vision to the new clarity.

A man appeared, armed. Sinstov told Jim to observe carefully the number the guard would introduce into the alarm. He did so, dialing up his vision to see at a distance. When the guard entered the password, the alarm deactivated. He entered the laboratory and when he checked that nothing was happening, he went out and re-entered the number, activating the alarm. He left. Sinstov told Jim to enter the correct password on the device. Blair opened the lab door.

 

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/vxOnYe1)

 

What they saw inside the laboratory they would never have expected.

 

A gray wolf and a black jaguar.


	3. Mind games

Jim and Blair could not believe what they were seeing. The two animals seemed very calm and comfortable there.

 

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/FQlT8xg)

 

Sinstov ordered them to continue to the back of the laboratory.

"We can’t," Blair said, "those animals won’t let us through."

_"What animals?"_ The scientist asked, _"There's nothing there."_

"Don’t you see them?" Jim asked. Sinstov wondered if it was a side effect of mind control. Maybe it produced hallucinations.

_"It doesn’t matter. Go to the back of the laboratory. On the wall there is a metal door. Pierce it with the laser."_

Jim and Blair advanced to the back. The animals disappeared. At that moment, the light went out. Jim led Blair into the darkness. They reached the door in the wall. Jim used the laser again. At the order of Sinstov, they took two canisters of nerve gas that were inside. Blair put them in his backpack.

_"Perfect! Now you just have to go back the same way you went in."_

Jim went ahead, to guide Blair. After several laps through different corridors, following the directives of Sinstov, they arrived at the door that they had pierced. They went outside and climbed the wall again.

At that moment, Blair saw the gray wolf. It was next to the vehicle that had brought them. Blair stopped, but Jim continued walking. Sinstov realized that Blair had stopped.

_"What's wrong, Sandburg? Why did you stop?"_ he said through the headset.

Blair heard a voice saying: _Use the power of your animal spirit._

He watched as the animal began to run towards him. But he didn’t get scared, somehow he knew that wolf was not going to hurt him. When the animal reached Blair, it jumped and merged with his chest. An intense light blinded him for a moment.

When the light disappeared, he immediately realized what was happening. He was being manipulated, and Jim too. They had stolen nerve gas against their will. He had to get Jim to regain control of his will.

_"Sandburg! Walk to the vehicle and get inside!"_ Sinstov ordered.

Blair took off his headphones, microphone and camera and crushed them with one foot. Now Sinstov was going to realize that something was wrong, so Blair had to act quickly if he wanted to catch him. First of all, he had to make Jim overcome the mind control.

Jim was standing next to the vehicle, probably waiting for Sinstov's orders. Blair approached, took him by the arm and looked into his eyes. "Jim, you have to hear me. Sinstov is controlling your mind. You have to overcome that. You are stronger. Do you understand me, Jim? Ignore him."

The expression on Jim's face was completely empty. Blair felt fear. Sinstov could order Jim to kill him, which he could easily do, even without a weapon. That is why he hastened to remove the communication devices and also crushed them with his foot. Jim looked at him, but he didn’t seem to understand what was happening.

"Jim! We have to call the station and ask for reinforcements to capture Sinstov, before it's too late! "

"I have to bring the nerve gas to Sinstov," Jim said, without looking at Blair. And he went to the driver's side of the vehicle. Blair stood in front of him, stopping him. He saw that Jim was still under control and that he wanted to carry out the last order the mad scientist had given him. He had to find a way to overcome mental control over Jim.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him. "Jim, do you see that light in the distance? I want you to look at it carefully. Just look at that light."

"Yes, but I have to take the gas ..." Jim said.

"Yes, don’t worry, we'll take it. Look at that light, Jim. Just look at that light," Blair said, using his Guide voice.

Jim fixed his eyes on the light that was far away, inside the walls of the building. Soon he was totally motionless and with his mouth ajar. A zone-out.

"Perfect. I've never been happier that you're zoning," Blair said and pushed Jim to the passenger side of the vehicle. He got in the other side and used the phone to call his Captain.

He was sleeping at home, but he answered the phone, but without a hologram; probably didn’t want to be seen in his pajamas. Blair explained the situation. While telling him what had happened, he realized that he didn’t remember the way they had followed to get there. So he couldn’t go capture Sinstov and his henchmen.

The Captain, Mark Sheffield, placed an arrest warrant on Dr. Dimitri Sinstov. He told Blair to go to the station to meet him, where they would store the gas safely.

In the morning they would contact the laboratory authorities.

When they arrived at the parking lot of the police station, Blair felt guilty for having left Jim so long in a zone-out. So he hurried to get him out of it. He took Jim's left hand in his and began to speak to him in his special voice. After several minutes, Jim came to his senses. He shook his head and looked at Blair in amazement.

"Where are we?"

"In the parking lot of the VPD. What do you remember?" Blair asked.

"I remember we were in the apartment, about to have dinner, when someone knocked on the door."

"Nothing else?"

"No. What happened?" Blair quickly told him what had happened, to Jim's amazement. He left aside the appearance of animal spirits and his experience with the gray wolf. He thought Jim was the pragmatic type and not interested in spiritual matters. Although he thought he would tell him one day, after all, it had to do with the fact that he was a Sentinel. On the other hand, he was happy that the mind control over Jim had ceased.

They went up to where Major Crimes worked and they met with Captain Sheffield. They delivered the two nerve gas canisters, which were placed in a safe. They learned that Sinstov had been arrested when he was attempting to board a ship heading for Earth. Blair hoped that not only would he be locked up for a long time, but that all evidence of his research on mind control would be destroyed. It was too dangerous. Another person could resume the plans of the mad scientist.

The next day, the laboratory authorities showed up at the VPD. Sheffield asked them why a substance as dangerous as nerve gas was in the colony on Mars. They replied that they were investigating its effects and how to reverse them. Although a world government had been installed on Earth, they were still far from having total peace. There were pro-independence movements that used terrorist methods, such as chemical weapons.

They put the nerve gas canisters under strict security measures.

Blair had to make all the reports about what had happened, because Jim didn’t remember anything. Eventually, he was going to have to testify in court against Sinstov.

Captain Sheffield gave them two more days off, which would turn into four due to the weekend. The Sentinel and his Guide were happy to rest, hoping that this time no villain would get in the way.


	4. Destiny

We arrived in a patrol car (the vehicle that Sinstov had given us had been confiscated) at the parking lot of the building in which we lived. We thanked the uniformed cop who had brought us home and got out of the vehicle.

I was walking in front of Jim. Jim couldn’t help chuckle when he saw me walking in a funny way, like bouncing. He hadn’t noticed that he himself walked the same way. It was an effect of the low gravity.

When we entered the apartment, he said: "Chief, did you notice the way you walk? On Earth you walked the same, bouncing, but here it shows more. It's very funny."

"It’s that here I weigh half of what I did on Earth. And you also bounce!" I replied.

"Bullshit! I don’t bounce," Jim said, frowning.

"Of course you do! I'm going to show you." And I went to my room to get my camera. When I returned, I told Jim to walk around the living room, which he did, reluctantly. I filmed it and then projected the hologram of a very bouncing Jim.

We both laughed, with much desire.

"I think you were right, Chief. I bounce."

I left the camera in a safe place and began to make big leaps, to show what could be done with little gravity. Jim imitated me and soon we looked like two lunatics jumping from one place to another. And laughing like crazy.

Without knowing how, we end up in each other's arms. I tightened my arms around Jim and my cheek to his chest, wondering what I was doing. Surely, he wasn’t going to react very well.

But he didn’t let go. Actually, he also pressed me hard against his chest, while he buried his face in my hair. I realized that he was smelling me. Would he like my smell?

As if answering, he said: "Oh, Chief, you smell so good." That made me smile. I felt so good there in his arms. It was the best place to be on this entire planet. And on Earth too.

Suddenly, I had a flashback. I remembered vividly how Jim looked when I had interviewed him, two years ago, in my SGI office. How we immediately felt how compatible we were, despite our differences. I was going to look for a Guide for him, without knowing that destiny had already been decided. That Guide was me. We were destined for each other. Now I could feel it.

"Can you feel it, Jim?" I asked in Sentinel soft voice.

He pulled away from me a little, to look me in the eyes.

"Yes, I feel it, Blair."

And he leaned until his lips touched mine. I felt as if an electric current passed through my entire body, from my lips. Then we kissed each other more deeply. My emotion was so strong that I could not prevent tears from forming in my eyes.

When we parted, I could see that Jim's eyes were also wet.

I heard the growl of an animal. We both look to the side. The wolf and the jaguar were there, watching us expectantly. I felt Jim tensing up. I explained to him that these were our animal spirits, his the black jaguar and mine the gray wolf. And besides, he had already seen them once, even if he didn’t remember them. I told him how the wolf had helped me overcome Sinstov's mind control. Those animals were here to help us and to make sure that we were going to be together.

It was our destiny.

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/X9yJ9sk)


	5. After midnight

I turn on the light and look at the clock on the bedside table and it’s after midnight. Jim is asleep next to me. We are in his bed, which is bigger. Jim can’t sleep if it's not in a king-size bed.

We didn’t talk about that, but I guess from now on I'll sleep here, with him. After the things we said, it is to be assumed. Because he told me he loved me. Now that I'm thinking about it, it seems truly incredible to me. Jim loves me. Really loves me.

Actually, it's not that I don’t believe it. I believe it. He showed it to me several times. It's just that I thought so much that mine was an unrequited love, that this happened was like a surprise. A wonderful surprise

And I also told him that I loved him. Jim's eyes brightened and his smile was incandescent when he heard it.

When we made love, we also shared a spiritual experience. We both saw our animal spirits running towards each other and jumping to join in a bright beam of light. I think that means that Jim and I are united now, our souls are one.

I wonder what would happen if one of us were missing. Actually, I don’t even want to think about that. But it will happen, in the future. I hope it will be very far in the future. What I know is that without Jim, I couldn’t live. I think I would follow him right away. Who knows, maybe we will continue to live together on the spiritual plane. Together with our spirit guides, the wolf and the jaguar. I want to believe that.

A few more months and we will return to Earth. And there we’ll live together, in the loft. I always liked the loft, I always wanted to live in it. Now I will have the opportunity. I'm glad Jim didn’t sell it to come here.

We have to talk about whether we will get married or not. Actually, it's just a formality, Jim and I are already married, in our own way. But, from my point of view, it would be a wonderful way to show everyone that we love each other. Although it is not necessary. It’s enough that we know. However, it would be nice to share our happiness with our family and friends.

I wonder what my mother will think about this. I have to send her a message, telling her. I'm not going to tell her about what happened with Sinstov. She doesn’t need to know. Naomi already thinks that my life with Jim is too dangerous. She’s totally against me having formed a bond with him. Surely, if I tell her I'm going to marry him, she will not be in favor either. But I would do it anyway.

Will Jim be in favor of adopting a child? I would prefer Jim to have a son of his own. Now that there are artificial wombs, it would be much easier. I even think that there has been so much progress in genetic engineering that we can have a child with the genes of the two of us. They just have to take an egg and replace the chromosomes with mine or Jim's. That would be fantastic. Jim's genes are too valuable not to be passed on to another generation. He’s one of the strongest Sentinels that exist.

My thoughts must be very noisy, because it seems that Jim is going to wake up. He moved his whole body and shook his head. But no, he doesn’t wake up. He looks for me with his arms and puts them around me. A faint smile is drawn on his face. Is he dreaming about me?

I should follow his example and sleep. Tomorrow, or rather, today when it is day, we will go through Vanguard. What we were going to do the day after they kidnapped us. Well,

I'm going to sleep. I turn off the light and close my eyes.

 

 

 

[ ](https://imgur.com/GinUsdU)


End file.
